"More F-35 News - And It Isn't Good" Topic

More F-35 news, and I guess it should come as no surprise that it isn't good.

Yes, I know, the F-35 has been getting a bad wrap for some time, due to its very anemic performance, and poor design, but this new complaint is really a bit over the top:

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Seems that having helmets that don't fit in the cockpit could be a major issue, as is the inability to see to the rear of the aircraft, visually.

Do military aircraft designers not read history?

Surely, you'd think their CEO, and/or project managers would do so.

A shame to have to re-learn all of the age-old lessons from as far back as WWII, the hard way.

The Elbit-developed helmet is too big and bulky compared to other contemporary helmet designs due to its overengineered complexity and the "need" for all the high tech bells and whistles.

As for the F-35's maneuverability deficiencies, it was never intended to excel in close-in dogfight situations. Even the F-22 Raptor air dominance fighter finds itself at a disadvantage in dogfights against more nimble and agile foes like the Eurofighter Typhoon and Dassault Rafale.

But yeah, the F-35 is ill-conceived from the start because its being designed as a "Jack of All Trades" type of aircraft also means that it will be a master of none.

Perhaps the US military could buy some Rafale?

and from the performance of this aircraft the rear view will be very important.

Since when was the F-35 intended to be primarily an air defence dogfighter?

Joint STRIKE Fighter… The clue is in the name.

From the UK's point of view it'll serve just fine compared to the Harrier GR9 that it replaces.

Jemima is correct, it's not designed to dogfight, although something tells me that the Israelis will get a bit more out of it than we will. How many times has a U.S. aircraft been in a dogfight in the last 40 years? Maybe a handful if I recall right. Also, any future enemy, whether it is Russia, China, a combo of both, etc., is going to get their airfields plastered by cruise missiles and stand off weapons. Anything that gets off the ground after that will be met by F-22s, and then the F-35s and their UCAV partners will move in to do the dirty work of Iron Hand, SEAD, etc.

Yawn…..here we,go,again. I still remember that 60 minutes hit piece on the M1 Abrams tank…..boy were the experts wrong about that one. Doubtless there are problems with the F-35. Problems that will be magnified by the aviation companies that did not get the lucrative contracts…..